Facebook celebrates 1 billion Messenger users with balloon emojis

Social network giants, Facebook, announced on Wednesday that their ‘‘Facebook Messenger’‘ application has hit 1 billion user milestone. The company asked users to join the celebration ‘‘by sending a balloon emoji in any conversation!’‘

Facebook made Messenger an independent app two years ago, compelling people to download a separate app rather than allowing them to continue using the private message feature on the main Facebook app.

Some users however expressed their displeasure at being forced to use an app in replies to Facebook’s celebratory tweet. One user wrote, ‘‘that’s what happens when you force them,’‘ another said, ‘’@facebook and if we had a choice you wouldn’t be so lucky,’‘ ‘’@facebook You shouldn’t celebrate a milestone of user numbers when you forced people to download your app. Not okay!’‘ another protested.

One billion people now use Messenger every month. Celebrate with us by sending a balloon emoji in any conversation!

One billion people now use Messenger every month. Celebrate with us by sending a balloon emoji in any conversation! pic.twitter.com/aD8jDqyIpW

By implication, Messenger becomes one of the world’s top three apps just two years after it was split off from Facebook’s main app.

In 2014 facebook bought messaging service, WhatsApp, for over 20 billion. Messenger has become an increasingly popular app for keeping up with friends.

Facebook has aggressively moved to make Messenger an integral part of its business, by building chatbots, allowing business customers to message users directly. They disclosed that over 1 billion messages are sent between people and businesses each month on Messenger.

Messenger is the second-most popular iOS app of all time, and the app has been downloaded more than a billion times on Android devices.